Waiting for the back glue to dry to stick the back down. With I would have done that first, dangit. But....so far so good. I'm documetning my adventure. So much for my tempate idea...... Didn't work. Had to cut the holes by hand.

Had to check on your progress. Knew you'd get it all to bend to your will. And I didn't want to add confusion, but I would have hand cut the veneer out of the driver holes anyway. You're doin' it. Good luck with next phase, Michael.

Just waiting for the Poly to dry now. I tried some poly spray in a can this time. Don’t think I like that crap much, but I can’t brush gloss to save my life, so it did come out better than what my brush skills would have accomplished. Should be able to buff it with some beeswax tomorrow and put it back together. I hate finishing….. I took a few pics throughout the process so I can put together a step by step tutorial. Maybe tomorrow if I have time.

I don’t have much spare time, so I’ll make this brief. If anyone wants to try this and has specific questions, I’ll answer them as they come up.

I used paper backed cherry veneer. It’s .018” thick, so I’m guessing it’s 20 mil. You can get 10 or 20 mil. I chose this species to match the cabinets in my kitchen which is part of the great room where the 600 is going.

I wasn’t sure if the veneer would roll over the leading edge corners without cracking, so I rounded them down a bit. I used a random orbital sander with 150 grit paper. I then used a sanding block to make sure that whatever radius I ended up with would be consistent from top to bottom.

The port will not come out without destroying it. It is flanged at both ends and there’s no way to get it out without cutting it in half. I decided to sand it down flush with the cabinet. I ran some sheet rock screws in to secure it, and then filled them with filler.

Because I wanted to roll the corners, I needed a total veneer width of 47 ¾”. The sheet is 48 ½”, so it was important to set it just right. Once the veneer touches the case, there’d be no moving it with destroying it. Contact cement sticks like crazy. I used a water based cement made by 3M. It worked very well. I rolled it on to the veneer and the case with a 4” foam roller, let it sit for about 30 to let it dry, then prepared to adhere it. I also marked the center of the case leading edge and the center of the veneer to position it. This veneer is much more pliable than I thought it would be, so I had to use a bunch of spacers to keep it from sagging and touching the case before I wanted it to. I used a 2” laminate roller, starting in the center of the sheet of the leading edge and worked my way out. After the leading edge was secure and flat, I just rolled it around the corners, pressing it down with my hand then following up with the roller.

Trimming this stuff is pretty painless. I used a utility knife and changed blades often. I left about 1/16” and used my sander with 150 grit to sand it flush. I figured this would be safer than trying to trim flush. If it is not perfectly square to the edge, it will be visible and the joint will not look right. I found that if I score the paper side on the cross grain cuts first, it would cut much easier.

I did make a template out of parchment paper so that I could find all the holes later. Glad I did……. I used my utility knife to cut everything out, working to the edge by making the holes larger in steps till I could see exactly where the final cut needed to be. A little hand sanding with 150 grit finished the cuts off.

After all the edging was done, I ran over the veneer with 220 grit, then 320 grit. I don’t normally stain wood. I like the natural look and I pick my wood species for the desired look. Plus, cheery will darken all on its own. In a few months, it will darken up quite a bit. I used 3M spray adhesive on the labels to stick them on the cabinet. The little plastic Axiom badge is secured by means of two little pegs. I didn’t want to deal with drilling holes just right in the veneer and broke them off. The adhesive works well enough.

I need order a different grill to match the cherry now. The black looks like crap on the natural cheery.